The Met Office has updated its yellow warning for snow and ice on Thursday to include southern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

All schools on Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra in the Western Isles have been closed to pupils as a precaution.

Electricity company SSE Networks said about 2,000 of its customers in the Western Isles had been affected by power cuts, before supplies were restored.

In the Highland Council area, more than 50 schools, which include nurseries, primary and secondary schools, have been closed because of the weather.

All schools in Orkney are closed at 11:30. In Shetland all schools are closing at lunchtime and will remain shut on Friday.

Image copyrightScotrailImage caption A railway track at Patterton was blocked by a trampoline Image copyrightWinkers/@BBCWthrWatchersImage caption Blustery conditions at Invergordon in an image taken by BBC Weather Watcher Winkers

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has 10 flood alerts and 11 flood warnings in place for areas including Ayrshire, Lochaber, Caithness and Sutherland.

ScotRail Alliance said that because of the Met Office forecast for winds gusting to up to 90mph in some areas, it had suspended the following services:

Aberdeen to Inverness

Inverness to Wick

Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh

Glasgow Queen Street to Oban/Fort William/Mallaig

Speed restrictions will also be in place for services between Perth and Aberdeen and Perth and Inverness as winds of up to 60 mph are expected in areas those routes pass through.

ScotRail Alliance said this would mean trains would be slower and services would be disrupted.

Rail services between Glasgow Central and Neilston were disrupted for almost two hours after a trampoline blew onto the track at Patterton in East Renfrewshire.

‘Challenging conditions’

Ferry operators Caledonian MacBrayne and Serco Northlink have warned of cancellations and disruption to routes on Scotland’s west and north coasts.

Ferry sailings to and from Shetland were cancelled on Thursday night.

Serco Northlink is also advising customers that both of Friday’s passenger sailings from Lerwick and Aberdeen are under review with a high probability of cancellations.

CairnGorm Mountain snowsports centre near Aviemore said it would be closed on Thursday because of the expected high winds.

Image copyrightWeather Watching Wendy/@BBCWthrWatchersImage caption A wet and windy scene on Shetland where all schools are to close from lunchtime Image copyrightPAImage caption Workers have been preparing for high winds on the Forth Road Bridge

The Scottish government held a resilience meeting on Wednesday to discuss the impact of the storm.

Mr Yousaf said: “We are facing some challenging weather conditions in the next few days as a result of Storm Caroline and we will be working closely with our partners to try to mitigate the worst of these and get information out to the public so that they can plan their journeys.

“Disruption is very likely but we will make every effort to recover the network as quickly as possible when incidents do occur.”

He said strong winds were likely to result in restrictions and closures on road bridges on Thursday morning.

Gritter tracker

Mr Yousaf added: “Moving forward, snow and ice will become more of a feature of the storm and our gritters and patrols will be out across the network.

“There is plenty of salt available and new vehicles are being trialled to improve our response. Our gritter tracker is back online so that people can see where our gritters have been out in their area.”

Image copyrightMetOfficeImage caption The Met Office amber warning covers the north of mainland Scotland and the Northern Isles

Graeme Macfarlan, commercial director of CalMac, said disruption to ferry services on Thursday was “a high possibility”.

He said: “We would urge passengers who need to travel, to allow extra time for their journey and to keep track of the status of their sailing on the website before setting out on their journey.”